Month: June, 2018

“Bullshit jobs and the yoke of managerial feudalism“, by N.B. (The Economist, 2018-06-29). Anthropologist David Graeber discusses the psychological burden of “purposeless” jobs, and the connection between these jobs and the current political and educational landscape.

“When scholarship and politics collided at Yale“, by Karen W. Arenson (NY Times, 2005-12-28). A peek back at Graeber’s termination of teaching at Yale. Ironically, it seems that Yale decided it did not want this active participant in communities to remain part of their community. And Graeber took it personally.

“Boston grapples with Faneuil Hall, named for a slaveholder“, by Katharine Q. Seelye (NY Times, 2018-06-06). Peter Faneuil was also a slave trader. The article addresses (albeit obliquely) a critical question: Should we as society seek to “not offend”, or should we seek to honestly remember? If you haven’t read an honest account of the African slave trade, do. (E.g., see “Voices of the slave trade“, by Amy Lifson (National Endowment for the Humanities, 2002). Warning: The excerpts in this article will (I hope) offend and help honestly remember. Yes, this actually happened.)

Who cleans in a shared or public setting? Whose responsibility is it? Does hiring someone to clean absolve others of their responsibility to do so?

I debated these questions with some colleagues. One position, to apply both simplification and straw-man, was that we pay people to clean (janitors at work, maids at home). It’s literally their job. Those who aren’t paid to clean have no responsibility to do so and should focus their time and energy on other tasks.

This point of view did not sit well with me, for the following reasons.

Community. Even the most specialized of labor contributes to a common goal. Indeed, specialization can only exist because of community. Specialization has its benefits, but to shoehorn people into too specialized a role introduces unnecessary inefficiency for the entire community or team.

An example: My college choir gave a concert in Germany. After assessing the acoustics, our conductor asked the tech team to move the risers a few centimeters toward the audience. “We’re sorry,” the team replied. “We’re the setup team, not the adjustment team. You’ll have to wait an hour for the adjustment team to arrive.” Our shared goal was to stage an excellent concert. Specializing to the point of refusing to do another specialist’s task obstructed that goal.

Respect. Someone drops trash on the floor and walks away. “I pay the janitor to clean that trash up.” No, you pay the janitor to keep things clean. They have enough to do without you artificially increasing their workload.

At the end of the day, most cases of people leaving a mess for others to deal with comes down to respect. The person leaving the mess values their time and comfort more than the time and comfort of others. “I don’t have time to clean it up. I have more important things to do. I don’t want to crawl under the table to pick it up. The janitor can do that.”

Conclusion. I’m not asking you to use your toothbrush to clean up after someone else’s bad aim. I’m just asking you to clean up after yourself. Encourage others to do the same. It shows respect for those who clean up after others, and it furthers community relationships and goals.

If you decide to spend the last five minutes of your lunch break someday cleaning the shared microwave or fridge, heart points for you ❤